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Month: January 2024

We are the Best Small UK Consultancy

Written by Robert Ainslie on . Posted in news.

Xburo is named Best Small UK Consultancy at the Association for Consultancy and Engineering (ACE)

xburo has won the Best Small UK Consultancy at the Association for Consultancy and Engineering (ACE).

Winner of the Best UK Consultancy, xburo received the coveted accolade at an award ceremony held at the Leonardo Royal London Tower Bridge Hotel which was attended by hundreds of guests from the world of engineering and the built environment.

The ACE Awards celebrates the outstanding achievements within the industry, championing the best in the business, projects that excel and recognises companies from the world of engineering consultancy and the built environment.

xburo was shortlisted within the Best UK Consultancy (small) alongside nominees including: Aegaea Limited; M-EC Development Technical Consultants; and Rybka.

xburo’s Director Sarah Peterson, said: “To win the Best Small UK Consultancy at The Association of Consultancy and Engineering Awards (ACE) is a phenomenal achievement for xburo and the team. It is an honour to be recognised alongside our peers, by ACE, a leading industry body, and among leading companies. This award recognises the achievements of teams of engineers and energy experts as we continue to scale in growth and our in expert delivery as we help clients to achieve their ambitions, particularly as they navigate the route to net zero.”

Xburo Director, Thomas Brady, added: “Winner of the Best UK Consultancy is an outstanding accolade to be given by an industry body that recognises best practice. To be named amongst leading companies, our peers and innovators driving engineering and sustainability is testimony to the work that xburo delivers for its clients by our teams of experts. Congratulations to the team as we continue to do what we do best; bringing expertise, excellence and experience to those we work for and with.”

xburo, led by Michael A Gribben and Thomas Brady, grew the business in 2023 to deliver £500+million in transactional and construction value – scaling up with offices in Edinburgh, Glasgow and London. A number of strategic appointments including the addition of Director Sarah Peterson, who heads up the sustainability-arm to drive energy and sustainability, has been a key addition to help clients on the journey to net zero as well as a number of other recruits to bolster operations.

xburo has also been nominated for the Best UK Consultancy of the year at the CIBSE Building Performance Awards next month.

Ocean Terminal regeneration

Written by Robert Ainslie on . Posted in news.

Approval for Ocean Terminal regeneration project unanimous

2024 is off to a flying start with the approval of the regeneration of Ocean Terminal.

This week, Edinburgh City Council gave unanimous approval of this major redevelopment of Ocean Terminal at Leith Waterfront. 

Plans are to develop a sustainable new neighbourhood on Leith’s waterfront with the provision of 530 new homes as well as community amenities including health and leisure facilities.

This £250million investment in Leith’s waterfront is expected to retain and create 600 local jobs as well as the potential for more through this sizeable investment.  

xburo undertook detailed energy and thermal modelling of the centre and proposed new high-rise buildings to determine the energy requirements and set a pathway to achieve a low carbon solution, with a dedicated team of our mechanical, electrical and sustainability engineers allocated to deliver this sizeable project. 

Technical challenges include the removal of a sizeable portion of the existing centre and the impact this had upon services and infrastructure. For the residential tower blocks, we assisted in the internal space planning to maximise the efficiency number of units and developed a robust energy strategy to futureproof the development in the move to Net Zero.

We have now completed to RIBA Stage 2 with the next steps for xburo to proceed to RIBA Stage 3 design along with the rest of the design team and to continue to put sustainability at the centre of our designs.

xburo Director said: “Congratulations to Ambassador Investment Management and the teams involved in bringing this substantial investment to the city and the people of Leith. We look forward to continuing to bring our sustainable engineering solutions to the next phase of Ocean Terminal’s journey as it now advances with its development that places local living, connectivity, mixed-tenure living and sustainability at the heart of Ocean Terminal.”